EEE 1201n Ubuntu Karmic – Good Results
So the EEEbuntu 3 install (based on Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty) was too flakey, and while I had the ION working great, I still had no ethernet or wifi. EEEbuntu is working on release 4 (based on debian) but they haven't even released a beta yet. So, being bored I wiped the EEEbuntu and replaced it with a stock 32bit Ubuntu Desktop 9.10 (karmic)good installation.
The good news is that Ubuntu allowed me to install the Nvidia 185.18 driver right after boot (it detected the ION automatically) and this version is working with suspending. The better news is that wired ethernet worked out of the box!
I've since then found some easy directions to get wifi working (using the win2k drivers and NDISwrapper- I'll post this up soon).
I'm much happier with Ubuntu Karmic, and I'll be following up soon with some more detailed posts about what I've done with the 1201N.
Updating Nvidia ION Drivers on EEE 1201n – Ubuntu
Using EEEbuntu (9.04) on the new EEE 1201N with Nvidia ION? You may have noticed that the built-in gfx driver is crushingly slow. But you can grab the latest Nvidia Linux drivers (which support the ION) without too much effort.
Below is exactly what I did to my system to get this working. Do this as root.
# wget http://www.avenard.org/files/ubuntu-repos/ubuntu-repos.key && apt-key add ubuntu-repos.key && rm ubuntu-repos.key
# echo "deb http://www.avenard.org/files/ubuntu-repos jaunty release" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/avenard.list
# apt-get update
# apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.28-11-generic
# apt-get install nvidia-glx-195 nvidia-195-libvdpau
# nvidia-xconfig
# apt-get install vim
# vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
-- [Change Mouse to /dev/input/mice]
# /etc/init.d/gdm stop
# rmmod nvidia
# modprobe nvidia
# echo nvidia >>/etc/modules
# /etc/init.d/gdm start
Reference Pages:
http://ptspts.blogspot.com/2009/08/asrock-ion-330-nettop-with-jaunty.html
http://www.avenard.com/media/Ubuntu_Repository/Ubuntu_Repository.html
Update: I also updated the BIOS of the 1201N to the latest version; downloaded from Asus website - you can grab it right here- 0318
- unzip the new bios
- stick it on a USB stick
- rename it from 1201N-ASUS-0318.ROM to 1201N.ROM on the USB stick
- put the USB stick in the 1201, remove all other USB devices
To update the bios- power off and hold ALT+F2 as you power on. The 1201N has 'bootblaster' which makes it difficult to do this (it will often just go right into grub), if you can't get the BIOS update utility to come up I suggest you get into the BIOS itself (F2) and then choose to disable Bootblaster then try the ALT+F2. The flash utility will load and read the usb stick and update the BIOS automatically, then restart the netbook.
Removing Blastwave from Solaris
Solaris on spac is a lot of fun, however, sometimes you need to clear the deck of all the fun and start fresh.
With blastwave (CSW) you install pre-built binaries for your system as regular solaris packages. Removing them using pkgrm is a pain if you want to clear blastwave off completely and start fresh. However, there is a solution.
I found the command over at glaasse's blog:
# yes | pkgrm `pkginfo | grep CSW | awk '{print $2}'`
Does the trick, and you can sit back and watch it happen. Be careful using the yes command and pkrm however.
EC2 and OpenSolaris with EBS
Using OpenSolaris AMIs on EC2, and wanted to use EBS... currently, Elastifox is mute on naming the devices (only gives examples for linux based device names) so I was looking for a read on Opensolaris and found this.
Hope for Newton – squashing the 2010 Bug?
Mottek: John Arkley was wrong ... Eckhart Köppen has built a Newton patch. So it seems like there are 3 people alive who can do it, despite what John has written. John, Paul and Eckhart. And only one of them is actively developing for the Newton... Which is pretty impressive.
Meanwhile, the excellect Nitch software package, which implements GTD on the Newton has actually made me fire up my 2100 and get it connected to a desktop so that I could install Nitch. Eckhart Köppen has written zn amazingly useful package that really shines on the Newton form factor, and proves that the Newton is relvant even today.
Getting it connected back up to a desktop, to install the software is another story, and is a big issue for anyone getting back into the Newton scene. I'll write that up later.
Why the best Newtons could die next year
There is a bad bug in the handing of time for Newton OS 2.1, which is used on most Newtons still around today. Details of the bug have been collected on the 40hz site. There is one 'fix' that doesn't completely work. What is needed is a real system patch, and those are just not possible anymore, not without massive help from Apple itself.
Amazon’s EC2 Portal
Amazon announced a web-based portal for EC2, and while it's nice, it's no ElasticFox. I guess I'll use both, but ElasticFox is much much faster.
Mysql Gem for OSX Lepard Ruby
Want to build the mysql gem for the system's Ruby and use the mysql binary you just installed from mysql.org?
Easy, has wonko.com has the answer and it worked perfectly! I love Google.
airbot:~ [504]$ sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch i386" gem install mysql -- \ > --with-mysql-dir=/usr/local/mysql --with-mysql-lib=/usr/local/mysql/lib \ > --with-mysql-include=/usr/local/mysql/include Password: Bulk updating Gem source index for: http://gems.rubyforge.org Building native extensions. This could take a while... Successfully installed mysql-2.7 1 gem installed
And your off.....
Update: don't forget to add the gems require at the top of your ruby scripts:
require 'rubygems'
This will get rid of the
in `require': no such file to load -- mysql (LoadError)
errors. On my linux machine, mysql was not installed as a gem so I didn't have the require in my scripts.
2 cool free iPhone apps
1 Mint
2 PCalc Lite
two great apps to have on your phone, and they don't cost a dime.
Meanwhile, I've got SimCity for the iPhone and it's everything they claim it is, only downside is that it can't run in the backgroud. I no longer need a port for the Mac.
2008 and the Newton
Genghis7777 has a great roundup of 2008 Newton Developments. I haven't used my Newton much, but I'm actually considering taking it back up again since the iPhone is not able to track all the notes and things I need to keep around. There is still a strong community, still developing and making the Newton relevant in 2008. The newton does things that the iphone may never do; it's strange that something with so much more power is still fundamentally missing the boat.
The post over at My Apple Newton is worth the read, if just to prove that the newton is still here.
MacBook Pro – new trackpad
Just used the new MBP for about 4 hours. The new new 'all one big button' trackpad is really annoying. I had my thumb down at the bottom of the 'pad trying to click a button that just isn't there anymore. Having to remember to click the entire pad is just really.... weird. Too weird. Other than that, the machine is amazing. Incredibly fast and quick, and the screen is very, very nice.
Android 101 – Part 2
Now that the emulator is up and running, you need to get familiar with adb - the Android Debug Bridge - and start poking around at your device.
I found ADB back in the latest SDK, and used it to connect to my emulator. You can start a shell and poke around. I want to get networking up on the emulator-- without connectivity this whole enterprise is pointless.
Find your device first:
$ adb devices List of devices attached emulator-5554 device
Start a shell:
$ ~/work/android-sdk-mac_x86-1.0_r1/tools/adb -s emulator-5554 shell # ls sqlite_stmt_journals cache sdcard etc system sys sbin proc init.rc init.goldfish.rc init default.prop data root dev #
Reading Materials
I just ordered some Android books: Hello Android & Unlocking Android. They both have PDF versions available right now.
Starting Android Open Source Emulator
Once you have build Android on your Mac OSX (I have Leopard) following the Google directions, it's time to start it. This wasn't as easy as it sounds, as I couldn't find any docs that talked about this, except for this page that talks about the emulator in the SDK.
In your droid repo directory, this will start the emulator:
$ out/host/darwin-x86/bin/emulator -system out/target/product/generic -kernel prebuilt/android-arm/kernel/kernel-qemu
From there, you are back to working with it just like in the SDK.
Building Android – Available Now!
Android is OpenSourced, and you can build it yourself on MacOSX or an Ubuntu machine. THis is not the emulator, but real Android OS running on your system.
http://source.android.com/download
Has the directions.
Check out the known-issues page before giving up- there are some rough edges.
10/22 Update: watch out for your file system on the mac, you need to have one that is paritioned and formatted with case sensitivity, I just found out:
~/work/mydroid [558]$ make build/core/product_config.mk:229: WARNING: adding test OTA key build/core/main.mk:58: ************************************************************ build/core/main.mk:59: You are building on a case-insensitive filesystem. build/core/main.mk:60: Please move your source tree to a case-sensitive filesystem. build/core/main.mk:61: ************************************************************ build/core/main.mk:62: *** Case-insensitive filesystems not supported. Stop.
Zimbra and new IP’s
So I've been happily using Zimbra as my primary mailserver for a couple of years. My host recently changed IP addresses, and I took the time to update zimbra to the latest release. Two things tripped me up.
First, this upgrade, unlike any other, refused to complete- the LDAP wouldn't start after it was upgraded. Searching for the error, the forums on Zimbra pointed to DNS issues. Perhaps it was taking a bit longer for my new A records to propagate... but a dig found them correct. I resolved the issue by putting an entry into my hosts file on the server, which allowed LDAP to bind the new IP and the upgrade completed.
Second, I soon discoved that using the WebUI (which is the only thing I ever use, it's so nice) that I couldn't send any mail- every address was 'rejected' - back to the forums, where I quickly located this nice page, which explained the issue. It was the ZimbraMyNetworks - it contained the old ip address of the server, and since it had changed, it thought the UI (which is running on the server itself) was trying to relay. Following this page I updated the ZimbraMyNetworks settings and switched host networks.
The two best things about zimbra are the price, and the support- by both the community and the developers. I've rarely come across such complete docs and support pages for such a complicated piece of software. They really do an excellent job. I hope Yahoo keeps Zimbra open for the long run.
EEE 901 Ubuntu and Netbook Remix
I was fortunate enough to pick up an EEE 901 for a work project and have spent some time with this machine. I chose the Linux version with 20G, which comes broken down into 2 different 'drives' (they aren't really SSD drives, just chips that plug into the ePCI sockets, but they emulate real PATA drives). The first drive is 4G, the 2nd is 16G. The 16G is replaceable and some people can even remove it and replace it with 1.8 hard-drives (the type used in iPod and MacAir) if their 901 comes with a ZIF socket. Asus carved out the space to hold a 1.8 drive, so they must have been planning for something like this.
The Xandros distro that comes on it is really boring, so I replaced it with Ubuntu Hard Heron. There is a site with good information an a tweaked distro to adapt to the short screen and limited real-esate. People have hacked together a nice replacement kernel that gets back most of the functionality (multi-threading, networking (need to build drivers), soft-keys etc.).
AFter I had Ubuntu working I took the extra step and loaded on the Ubuntu Netbook Remix which is just a series of packages that change the UI. Canonical put this out to address the growing netbook market. The UI works much easier with the 901 (which has tiny, tiny keys and bad trackpad) and selecting and launching apps is easier. There is no reason for the traditional menu-bar UI used on traditional desktop computers.
As for the EEE 901 itself, it's a mixed love on my end. The size and raw speed are nice. The slow SSD disk is bad, the tiny keys are much too small to use for typing anything but URLs or simple commands, even then, you are prone to typos unless you have the hands of a 10 year old. The trackpad is sloppy and the pad's buttons require to much force. I'm using the device for work that won't require much input on the keypad, so I'm not so worried. I'm getting the MSI Wind soon and I'll compare that to the 901 when I've had it while.
Could Android crush iPhone?
I've never been happier with a device than I have been my my iPhone. However, there is one huge problem. You can't write your own software for it (this doesn't count) , or even hack some existing software that someone else wrote. OK, at least you can't do those things without using a process called jailbreak, and then you can't even update your iPhone without worrying that you'll lose everything you've installed on your it. Recently Android was announced by Google as a device platform, not a device implementation. They got other people on board. But the killer piece is that you can go out right now and download a full SDK for OSX, Linux or Windows. It includes a full emulator to test your code and even a plugin for eclipse. And you can code in Java. Why did Apple skimp on the SDK for the iPhone? February is a long way away. There is probably a legion of people out coding for Android tonight that would have been working on iPhone apps had Apple released a SDK. Some are already wondering if the iPhone can be put to better use....
Can it crush the iPhone? Maybe. In 2008, when there are HTC devices running Android for $99 (or even free) at Sprint, who is going to pay $400 for an iPhone? When they build a dozen different form-factors of Android devices how can the iPhone compete? I suppose there will always be a market for iPhone as long as they function as video iPods, and as long as Apple keeps us locked into iTunes. But Android is using webkit! That's half the reason I bought the iPhone. Here is a deeper look at the Android stack. Plus you can win some of the $10 million they are giving away for cool applications written from now till March 2008.
After getting my iPhone, I thought I finally wouldn't need or want another device for long time. Too bad it only took two months for that sentiment to disappear.
A screen grab of the SDK running on my Mac....
Lepoard Firewall – not your ipfw anymore
Browsing the net I came across a great site that answered some questions I had about the new firewall in Leopard. Using it now on the company macbook, and it's nice. Having the 4 gigs of ram helps also. My poor macbook was pushed to the limit with just 2. The site is worth checking out- there are lots of good Mac tibits.
Tech Wiki
Postings this Month
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| « Apr | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |||
Categories
- Android
- Apple
- CIM
- Cloud
- Coding
- Computing
- eBooks
- EEE
- Interesting
- iPad
- iPhone
- IPTV
- karmic
- Linux
- Mac
- Newton
- Nokia 770
- OPML
- Palm
- phones
- PocketPC
- PSP
- Slowaris
- Software
- Sync
- Tech
- Treo 650
- ubuntu
- Updated
- wiki
Archives
Blogroll
Software
Meta
Liliputing News
- Samsung Galaxy Tab news roundup September 2, 2010 Brad Linder
- Hands on with the Samsung NF210 September 2, 2010 Brad Linder
- Toshiba introduces super-fast SDHC UHS-I flash cards September 2, 2010 Brad Linder
- Camangi unveils two new Android tablets September 2, 2010 Lee
- Genesi launches the Efika MX ARM-based netbook for $349 September 2, 2010 Brad Linder
